After my weekend of motorcycle learning, I stopped off at the DMV today, got my full motorcycle endorsement without a road test based on my MSF completion, and came home ready to ride.
Of course, that would've been too easy.
So I get home, get into some riding clothes, and go out to the garage. You've got to understand, over the last 61 days I've had a bum ankle, so my only bike pleasure was derived from taking everything short of the engine apart, figuring out how it worked (which often led to extensive internet research after I looked at some gizmo and said, "huh?"), and finally putting things back together in working order. Or so I thought.
I spent about an hour torquing everything I'd disassembled back within tolerances, and then decided it was time to ride. Boots, helmets, and gloves on, I hopped on and fired her up. Mad starter, no engine. Uh-oh. I go over the checklist: Fuel's on. Ignition's on. Bike's in nuetral. Engine cut-off is on. Choke's on, but feels a little weird. Oops.
It would seem my reassembly of the hand controls was somewhat less than adequate. I took the clutch master cylinder off, which also holds the choke cable. Unsuprisingly, the cable had come loose from the lock on the choke lever that holds it in, and I consequently got no choke, and no start. Reinserted the cable, put it all back together, and she fired right up.
Now it was time to ride.
I back out of the garage onto the road, roll on the throttle, and I'm off. Get a way down the street, and approach the first turn in the road. I roll off the throttle and onto both brakes, and damn there's a lot of free play in that rear brake pedal. I make a mental note to adjust that upon my return. I glance down at the speedometer, and I'm going through this turn at about 20. Not bad. I ride through the neighborhood some more, and glance down at my speed through a straightaway. About 20, and the speedometer needle is way to jerky for what feels like a constant speed. And feels like about 45. I come to a dead stop at the next intersection and glance down. About 20. Damn. It would appear that I fubar'd the speedometer cable when I reinstalled the front wheel. Oops again. To top it all off, I think I was a little too agressive with the angle of the handlebars when I tightened them up, it was just a tad too forward for me.
All that aside, I rode around the neighborhood for half an hour or so with a big grin on my face. Based on my lack of speedometer and a forecast for thunderstorms I hesitated to get too far from home base, and eventually just rolled her back into the garage. Tighten up that rear brake pedal free play, fix the speedometer cable on the front wheel, and adjust the handlebar angle and I'm in business. That's what Tuesday is for.
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